How to reduce the cognitive load of your code

Re:How to reduce the cognitive load of your code by ergothus on Tuesday March 29, 2016 @02:48PM (#11383852)

I find it a bit...incorrect.

I mean, your above code LIES. If I call validateSortDisplayedItems, I don't validate, I validate AND sort. Plus, what do you do if you have "validateItems" and "sortItems", and then one function that calls them each in turn? call it "validateAndSortItems"? Yuck.

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Re:How to reduce the cognitive load of your code by Retric on Tuesday March 29, 2016 @03:20PM (#11384121)

Depends on the Validation Logic. I like the style that basically works like this:

  validateSortDisplayedItems
  {
   if(!DisplayedItemsValid())
   {
     CorrectDisplayedItems();
     if(!DisplayedItemsValid())
     {
       DisplayValidationError();
       return;
     }
   }
   sortDisplayedItems(); //Actually sorts items.
  }

AKA validate means try and make valid, not verify that data isValid. So, you can't just do if(isValid) sort; the bonus is unrecoverable errors end up at leaf nodes vs. the happy path.

At the high level, your function might be sortClicked, which can then respond to that by calling a wide range of functions. (userCanSort,SortData,UpdateDisplay)

PS: I find the validate > correct loop is generally the important and error prone part of code, so I give it priority. The happy path where everything works is more or less an addendum.

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